HP Slate10 HD Review and Gaming Performance

Most of us here are probably not really familiar with tablets from HP, right?

Well, there is nothing wrong with that, given that HP is still considered as small player in tablet market.
However, even though this tablet manufacturer is not as popular as other tech giants, such as: Apple, Samsung, Asus or Sony, i’m personally surprised to see how this company is able to deliver many great quality Android slates to the market.

In fact, from what i’ve already seen on many video reviews across the YouTube, i dare to say that some of HP tablets are actually quite good and still worth recommending to you all of you guys here, especially if you’re into tablet gaming.

HP actually already has some of its tablets available to buy around the tablet market, but you’re probably having a hard time to find its tablets because tablet markets today are mostly inundated with popular devices from Samsung, Asus, Apple, Sony or probably some unpopular brands, even Chinese cheap companies.

HP has already released some of its Android tablets under the flag HP Slate series.

Besides these 7 to 8-inch tablets, HP also doesn’t want to be left behind in 10-inch tablet competition.

This company already releases its first 10-inch tablet called HP Slate10 HD.

However, unlike the 3 latest-gen HP Slate series (HP Slate 7 Plus, 7 Extreme and 8 Pro, all powered by Tegra processor), this HP Slate10 HD interestingly is powered by different processor, known as Marvel PXA986 Cortex-A9 chipset.

This chipset is actually not very familiar to see around the market to date, and i’ve only managed to find 2 devices that are powered by this same exact processor, this HP Slate10 HD and Samsung GALAXY Tab 3 7.0 211.

So when it comes to gaming performance, they are probably similar one to another. Actually, there is also one HP tablet that is packing this similar processor.

And that is HP Slate 6 VoiceTab, although it's using a different Marvel quad-core PXA1088, compared to the dual-core Marvel PXA986 inside this HP Slate 10 HD and Samsung GALAXY Tab 3 7.0.

Well, if you’re interested to know more about this tablet, especially its gaming performance, then you should definitely check out my personal review of HP Slate10 HD.

Introduction

In my opinion, most of HP Slate tablets are actually really great in quality, especially in gaming performance. If you’ve already checked out my personal reviews of HP tablets, like HP Slate 7 Plus, Slate 7 Extreme, Slate 8 Pro and the very-latest-review HP Slate 7, the you’ll also know that these HP tablets are all great in handling games.

Besides releasing these HP Slate tablets aforementioned above, this manufacturer also has one other new tablet, which interestingly is packing a much larger 10-inch display, unlike other HP Slate tablets that come with 7-inch screen.

This one is called HP Slate10 HD.

HP actually also has one other tablet with 10-inch screen.

And that tablet is HP Touch Pad, a 9.7-inch tablet that weirdly is using WebOS, instead of Android OS, although it can still be rooted and then replaced with Android OS by using CyanogenMod custom ROM.

So if you’re already in love with Android ecosystem and its apps, then you will feel at home when getting this tablet.

Anyway, one interesting fact about this HP Slate10 HD is that, unlike other 3 latest-gen HP Slate tablets aforementioned above (HP Slate 7 Plus, 7 Extreme and 8 Pro), this 10-inch tablet is packing other different processor, known as Marvel PXA986 SoC, which is kind of rare to find around the market to date.

So this brings up the question: with this different processor, does HP Slate10 HD stack up against other 10-inch rivals, especially in gaming performance?

Well, we’re about to find out about that in this review. So stay tuned.

Design

In term of design, HP Slate10 HD actually kind of reminds me with the same exact design of Samsung’s homemade Google Nexus 10 tablet.

They both have the same looking rounded corners, chubby look and thick bezels.

So if you’re already in love with the design of Google Nexus 10 tablet, then you will also like this HP’s tablet.

I personally like the design of this HP Slate10 HD, which is why i also like the design of Google Nexus 10.

Usually, i would be little bit paranoid everytime i look at the chubby design of Samsung tablets, like older-gen Samsung GALAXY Tab 1, which looked really ugly and chubby, especially compared to Apple’s slate with its sharp premium looking design, or Sony Xperia tablets.

However, i think that feeling has gone away since the first time i saw the design of Samsung Nexus 10 tablet.

It may look really chubby with its fully rounded shape all over it, but this actually gives a fun element to its design, making it look great as a media-consumption device.

So it’s obvious that its younger siblings will blow HP Slate10 HD out of the water, especially when it comes to gaming performance.

However, the good news is, Samsung GALAXY Tab 3 7.0, which also is powered by the same Marvel processor, is able to deliver a great performance, even for gaming.

So you can also expect the same thing on this HP’s tablet, although they both will not be on par in term of performance given that Samsung’s slate is only using a low 1024x600 pixel display, while HP Slate10 HD is packing a 720p display (1280x800 pixels).

HP Slate10 HD features a 10.1-inch display sporting the resolution of 1280x800 pixels, a dual-core Marvel PXA986 SoC clocked at 1.2GHz, 1GB of RAM, PowerVR SGX GPU, 5MP camera on the back that is able to take 1080p videos, 2MP camera on the front, 16GB of internal storage, microSD card slot, Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean out of the box, 7000mAh power battery and many other standard features.

Unfortunately, this tablet doesn’t come with 3G cellular connectivity, leaving you only WiFI connection if you want to connect to internet.

Screen

As the name of this tablet applies, HP Slate10 HD is indeed an HD tablet sporting an HD display with the resolution of 1280x800 pixels.

For today’s standards, this type of resolution is still considered as pretty good, but not great.

However, when looking at the competition, especially its high-end rivals, then HP Slate10 HD definitely doesn’t stand a chance to compete.

Most of 10-inch tablets today have all used either 1080p (1920x1200 pixels) display or even 2.5K display (2560x1600 pixels).

So when it comes to sharpness, the HD display on HP Slate10 HD has nothing to write home about, compared to its rivals.

However, there is still the strong reason why HP goes with HD resolution on this 10.1-inch tablet.

And this processor is definitely not on par with other 10-inch tablets out there, which already use either Tegra 4, Snapdragon 800/600, Exynos 5 octa-core or Apple’s 64-bit A7 chipset.

In fact, the Marvell processor inside this HP Slate10 HD is actually the same one found inside the 7-inch model of Samsung GALAXY Tab 3, which is considered as cheap budget tablet.

And Samsung’s slate is not even using an HD display just like HP Slate10 HD, only a rather low-resolution 1024x600 pixel display.

So the decision of HP to use this medium-resolution display on this HP Slate10 HD is definitely a great one.

So, by using this HD display, it actually makes this tablet perform much faster and smoother because its Marvel processor is only required to deliver its power to a medium–resolution display, thus making its battery life last much longer in heavy usage.

User Interface and Features

The User Interface of HP Slate10 HD is pretty similar with other tablets from this company.

In fact, there is nothing to write home about on its UI, especially compared to rivals like Samsung GALAXY tablets with their TouchWiz or Sony Xperia Tablet with its TimeScape UI, which are just much better in features and visual presentations/effects than the UI of HP Slate10 HD.

However, given that this HP’s tablet is not packing some monster specs in it, then having the UI that is close to the stock UI of Android OS is definitely a perfect match to this tablet.

The overall performance will be fast and smooth, and the battery life would last much longer when there are not many out-of-radar bloatwares running in the background.

Anyway, on the UI of this HP Slate10 HD, you’ll find many usual things and features that you’ve already come to love from Android OS, like its standard homescreen that can be filled with widgets, the standard notification windows, setting window, not to mention, the multi-window apps (like music player, calculator, video player, etc) that you can float around the screen at the same time.

Performance

As i mentioned above, HP Slate10 HD is packing the same exact processor just like the one found inside Samsung GALAXY Tab 3 7.0, a dual-core Marvel PXA986 SoC clocked at 1.2GHz per core.

For your information, this Marvel SoC is not quite familiar to see around the tablet market, even mobile device market in general.

I’ve personally only managed to find this HP Slate10 HD and Samsung GALAXY Tab 3 7.0 that use the same exact type of processor.

Therefore, when it comes to performance, HP Slate10 HD is actually pretty similar with Samsung’s 7-inch slate.

I’ve actually already seen the performance of Samsung’s tablet, and its gaming performance is also quite good as it’s capable to run many latest graphically demanding games like Modern Combat 4, Need for Speed Most Wanted, GTA III, GTA Vice City, ShadowGun DeadZone, Real Racing 3, even Asphalt 8: Airborne and GTA San Andreas.

Most of these games can run in full graphics on this tablet, although Asphalt 8 and GTA San Andreas cannot run in high-graphics setting.

So if the Marvel chipset can deliver a great performance to this Samsung’s tablet, then you can expect the same thing on HP Slate10 HD.

However, the performance of HP Slate10 HD might not be as faster and smoother as Samsung GALAXY Tab 3 given that this HP’s tablet is sporting an HD 1280x800 pixel display, compared to Samsung’s slate that only uses a low-resolution 1024x600 pixel display.

So there are probably some noticeable choppiness and lags found on HP Slate10 HD, especially when playing games.

As i’ve already mentioned above, when it comes to gaming, then HP Slate10 HD is probably pretty similar with Samsung GALAXY Tab 3 7, given their same Marvel processor.

However, in real life implementation, the gaming performance of HP Slate10 HD might not be as fast and smooth as Samsung’s 7-inch tablet.

And the reason for that is because HP’s tablet is sporting a higher 1280x800 pixel display, as opposed to the low-resolution 1024x600 pixel display on Samsung GALAXY Tab 3 7.

Therefore, if Samsung’s slate is already proved to be great in handling many latest graphics intense games aforementioned above, then HP Slate10 HD might not be as great as Samsung’s tablet.

However, you can still expect this tablet to be capable to handle many high-performing games like Modern Combat 4, N.O.V.A 3, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Real Racing 3, GTA III, GTA Vice City, Asphalt 7, Shadowgun, Dead Trigger 1 or Dungeon Defender.

But for the latest games like Asphalt 8: Airborne, GTA San Andreas or GT Racing 2, i have doubts this tablet is capable to handle these games smoothly in full graphics (besides, Samsung GALAXY Tab 3 7 is only capable to run Asphalt 8, GTA San Andreas in medium graphics).

The good news is, on games like Asphalt 8 and GTA San Andreas, there is the setting that allows you to control the graphics and visual effects of these games.

So you’re probably in luck when running these games on this HP’s tablet.

Anyway guys, if you want to know more about the gaming performance of HP Slate10 HD, including what games that will run on this tablet, check out my YouTube video playlist or Pinterest page. :)

Camera

As a mid-end tablet, then it’s a must for tablet like HP Slate10 HD to have a rear-facing camera.

The good thing is, HP Slate10 HD already comes with 5MP rear-facing camera that is able to take 1080p videos, which is quite impressive for this new comer tablet.

On the front, there is also 2MP camera that lets you record 720p videos, not to mention, to do selfies and video calls.

It’s a bit unfortunate that this tablet doesn’t come with LED flash, which is really important especially for taking low-light photos at night.

Battery Life

It’s good to see that this HP Slate10 HD is packing a staggering 7000mAh power battery inside.

This battery capacity is definitely considered as huge even for today’s standards given that most of 10-inch tablets are packing around 7000mAh - 9000mAh power battery.

So you can expect to see this tablet capaable to last all day long even in heavy usage.

The great thing about this tablet is that, HP Slate10 HD is only sporting a medium-resolution 1280x800 pixel display, not 1080p or 2.5K display.

So by using this display, it actually makes this tablet perform much even faster and smoother without using too many energy from its battery, which is already huge.

So if you happen to love spending your day with this tablet, you can expect this tablet to last a solid day in heavy usage, of course in one full charge.

However, if you intend to use this tablet for doing some heavy intense tasks without resting the screen, like for watching TV series/movies in marathon or playing games in the row, then its battery life could probably last around 7 to 9 hours of usage, which is still considered as good for a media-consumption tablet.

My Personal Opinions

So in conclusion, in my personal opinion, i think HP Slate10 HD is still a good choice of 10-inch tablet, but not great.

The highlights from this tablet are its good design, HD display, good 5MP camera, huge 7000mAh battery and the fact that this tablet is made by one of the biggest computer-related manufacturers in the world, Hewlett Packard,.

So the quality will not be disappointing compared to other unpopular Chinese cheap Android tablets out there.

However, there is the downside of this tablet. And that is its processor.

I mean, the story would be different if this HP’s tablet is packing the same Tegra 4 processor (or probably Tegra 3) just like its younger siblings (HP Slate 7 Plus, Slate 7 Extreme or Slate 8 Pro), which are just way more powerful than HP Slate10 HD, especially in term of gaming performance.

So if HP decides to sell this tablet in the price range of high-end rivals aforementioned above, then HP Slate10 HD definitely stands no chance to compete, especially given that most of its 10-inch rivals already adopt a full HD 1080p display or even 2.5K (2560x1600 pixels) display.

So unless this HP’s tablet is priced below $250, i don’t see any reason for you to pick this tablet, especially when there are still many other way better choices than this HP Slate10 HD.

Disclaimer: Hi guys, bear in mind that this is not some in-depth review. So this is just like Read more...